The Real Jareth
by addicted2caffine
Summary: Sarah is back from the Labyrinth. Why are her parents saying that they hadn't gone on a date the night before? Why is she wearing the bracelet that she gave to Hoggle. Why does it all seem like a dream?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello readers! This is my first fan fiction ever. I'm open to suggestions and constructive criticism so please review. I'll give you your choice of flavor Sunday. Well, probably not but please review anyways. Thanks.**

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Sarah groggily dragged herself to the bathroom for a hot shower. She pulled a towel out of the cabinet and set it on the sink. She slowly got undressed and turned the water on as hot as she could stand it. She just stood there in the shower, water beating down on her back, for a while. Sarah thought about her adventure. How she had saved Toby but torn her heart into millions of pieces. She heard a noise and didn't know what it was until she slumped down to the floor of the tub. The sound was her own sobs.

Sarah sat there in the floor of the bathtub until the water got freezing and a while after that. She sat there crying. When she had run out of tears, she just sat there, silently thinking. Finally she stood up and turned off the freezing water. She stepped out of the tub dripping water all over the floor. She pulled the towel off of the sink and dried off.

Sarah looked over at the mirror above the sink and almost had a heart attack. The reflection that she saw, her reflection, was pale, had dark circles under her eyes, and had red, puffy eyes. She looked terrible. Sarah didn't want her dad and stepmother to worry so she decided to wait to go downstairs until she had calmed down a bit.

Sarah went into her room and laid down on her bed. She laid there for a few minutes and decided to check on Toby. She wanted to make sure that he was still there and that Jareth hadn't tried to take him again even though she hadn't wished him away. Sarah slowly tiptoed to Toby's crib and saw him lying there fast asleep. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead causing him to wake up. When he opened his eyes and saw her, he raise his arms like he wanted to be picked up.

Sarah gently lifted him out of his crib. He giggled as she tickled him. Sarah brought him down- stairs to feed him breakfast after she had checked in the mirror to see that she still didn't look like she had just gotten done crying her eyes out. Her stepmother looked at her funnily an smiled when she walked into the kitchen.

"How was your date last night?" Sarah asked sticking Toby's bottle into his mouth. She watched as he greedily gulped the whole thing down within minutes.

"We didn't go anywhere last night. You were sick," Katherine said giving Sarah an odd look.

Sarah looked up and was about to say that they had because she had watched Toby. The confused look on her father's face made her change her mind. "Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. I got a little mixed up. I'm still half asleep," she said wondering what was going on. She smiled at her dad and looked back down at Toby. He had finished his breakfast and looked like he wanted more.

"Why don't you let me take him," Katherine said taking Toby from her, "and you get ready for school." Sarah nodded and went back upstairs to get ready for school.

Sarah felt weird as she walked into her room. She wondered what it was. More than anything she wondered why Katherine had said she had been sick the day before. She didn't remember being sick. In fact, she remembered 'watching' Toby, meeting Jareth, solving the Labyrinth, and denying her heart what it wanted so badly. Sarah stopped thinking when she remembered the end of her adventure. She didn't need to break down again.

Sarah pulled some clothes out of her dresser and put them on. She pulled her damp hair back into a ponytail. She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Sarah looked at her watch and almost screamed. She had twenty minutes to get to school and it was a twenty minute drive away. She ran down the stairs and into the living room. She flung the door to coat closet open, grabbed her shoes and jacket, and ran out the door, barely catching her father.

She waved at her father and he stopped the car half way down the driveway. He rolled the window down and looked at her. "Can you give me a ride to school. I'll be really late if I walk." He nodded and she got in and closed the door. She pulled her shoes on and buckled up.

Sarah looked over at her dad and said, "Thanks for taking me to school. I'm sorry you had to,"

"It's fine," he said not even looking over at her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure? You look distracted."

"I'm sure."

"Okay." Sarah turned the radio on and leaned back in her seat. She started singing along with the lyrics, which was weird because she was sure she had never heard the song before. Sarah wondered what was going on with her dad but didn't press it.

Fifteen minutes later they arrived at her school. Sarah got out and thanked her father again. She ran inside barely getting in class before the bell rang.

"I'm home," Sarah called out as she opened the front door. She had walked home from school and had stopped by the grocery like Katherine had asked. She was loosing her grip on the bag when she heard Toby crying upstairs. Immediately she knew something was wrong. She dropped the bag and ran upstairs calling for Katherine and her father.

Sarah ran into her brother's open door. She almost tripped over the teddy bear, Lancelot. She walked over to Toby's crib and picked him up. She cradled him in her arms trying to calm him down. "Shhhhhh." Sarah suddenly realized that Katherine and her father hadn't come upstairs yet. She had a bad feeling that this wasn't good at all.

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**AN: Did you like? Was good, bad, or otherwise? Will you read the next chapter when I write it which should be soon. I'm not a mean author who makes you wait forever for new chapters unless I have a valid reason. Smiles:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks to all of you who reviewed for my last chapter. I am so sorry for the wait. I know that I said to the reviewers that it would be up WAY before now. I've had tons going on at school and I've had major writer's block. Plus my grandparents' 50th anniversary was last weekend. Please forgive me for keeping you waiting. I hope this one is as good as (according to you reviewers) the first chapter. Enjoy.**

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Sarah quickly ran down the stairs with Toby in her arms. She looked down at her arm where Toby had just drooled all over her. Something on her wrist caught her eye. She was wearing the bracelet that she was sure she had given to Hoggle. Well, she really wasn't sure of anything anymore. Everything she had thought to be true the night before suddenly wasn't as simple. Her life seemed to be flipping upside down for the second time in two days.

Sarah walked down the rest of the stairs and down the hall towards the kitchen. She stopped at the sink and looked around. Everything was normal looking. What was going on and why couldn't she find her dad or Katherine? Sarah set Toby down in his car-seat that was sitting on the island. She handed him Lancelot and watched as he slowly fell asleep. She stood up and remembered the groceries that she had dropped on her way in. She went to get them so she could start dinner.

As Sarah walked into the front hall she looked around. Nothing seemed out of place so why did she have that weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. Sarah bent down and picked the groceries up off of the floor and put them back into the paper bag. As Sarah walked back toward the kitchen she heard Toby giggling. Sarah gave a sigh of relief when she saw Katherine sitting at the kitchen counter. She knew she shouldn't have worried so much.

Sarah set the grocery bag on the sink. She looked at Toby to make sure he was still there. What she saw surprised her. Toby was still asleep. She was sure that she had heard him giggling when she was in the hall. 'Am I going crazy? Was everything that happened last night just my imagination?' Sarah thought. "Katherine?" she said looking over at her stepmother.

"Yes, Sarah."

"Since you and Daddy didn't get to go out last night, why don't you two go out tonight? I could watch Toby for you."

"I don't know. I mean your father and I have work tomorrow and you have school. I don't want you up really late or anything. Besides your faher and I go out very often. I'm starting to feel mean asking you to watch Toby all of the time." Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing. Katherine had said the exact opposite thing last night. Well, at least Sarah thought that she had.

"It's okay. I enjoy watching Toby. We have fun. Well, at least I do. I think that he does, too."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"Alright, If you're sure," Sarah nodded. "I guess I'll go talk to Robert then." Katherine started out the back door. She stopped, turned around, and said, "Thank you, Sarah."

An hour later, all five of them were in the front hall. Toby was resting on Sarah's hip and was drooling all over her shoulder. Katherine and Sarah's father were dressed up and ready to go. "If Toby wants anything else to eat you know where it is. There's some peanut butter in the pantry. Call my cell phone if you need anything."

"Okay. I've got everything under control." Sarah's father opened the door and ushered his wife out the door. Srah walked onto the front poorch and waved goodbye as they drove off down the street.

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Sarah had been at home for awhile and was wtching television in the living room. She had put Toby to bed only a few minutes before. She took a bite of the peanut butter sandwhich that she had made for her dinner. Sarah heard a ding and got up to get her popcorn out of the microwave. She glimpsed a bird outside the window just as it flew away. As she walked into the kitchen she thought she saw it outside the window but she looked again and it wasn't there.

Sarah got a large bowl out of the cabinet and poured the bag of extra buttered popcorn into it. She picked up the bowl and walked back into the family room. She had decided to watch her favorite book, Frankenstein, being played on the television. Sarah setteled into the sofa and pulled her blanket around her. After about an hour she was frightened to the bones. She looked away from the screen. What she saw made her jump up, scream, and throw her popcorn into the air. There was a large white, grey, and brown owl perched right outside the loving room window.

Sarah told herself that she was being silly. She walked over to the window and closed the blinds just to be safe. She sat back down on the couch and got bundled back up in her blanket. After fifteen minutes of sitting there she decided that she wasn't getting back into the play so she changed the channel to the news. Commercials were on so she started picking up the spilt popcorn.

Just as Sarah got back into the living room from throwing awat the popcorn, the news came back on. "Breaking news has just come in from Georgia. It seems that a car has spun out of control and over into a ravine. Fred has the story in a live report." The picture on the screen changed to show an old, fat, balding man standing on the edge of the highway in front of a drop off. The wreckage was clearly visible. Sarah sat up in her seat. The car in the ditch looked like her father's station wagon.

Sarah listened carefully as the fat man spoke. "It seems that the driver, a man I-D as a Mr. Robert Daniels, lost control of his car and spun out into this ravine." Sarah almost screamed. Her dad mustn't be dead. She listened as the fat man said a lot of unimportant stuff. She justed wanted to know if he and Katherine had survived. She knew that they had. She just knew it. They weren't just going to leave her like that. They wouldn't. They couldn't.

As the fat man continued to talk about irrelevant things she got frustrated. "Just tell me that they survived you stupid man! Just say that the only injuries were minor!" Sarah was losing her mind. It was like a horror movie where they build up to something big, the one thing that you want to know and then they take forever just to say it. Sarah watched as the picture changed back to the woman.

"Police and the rescue teams say that the driver and his wife did not survive the crash. They were both killed on impact." Sarah felt like someone had just punched her in the stomach. They weren't supposed to die. They where supposed to grow old, go to Sarah's wedding, and see their grandchildren. They weren't supposed to die at forty, no one was.

Five minutes after the news went off, the doorbell rang. Sarah just sat on the couch hoping against hope that the people would just go away and let her just sit there and die. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to give up on life if in the end this is what happened to everyone. If they just died and left their friend sad and lonely.

The doorbell just kept ringing. Sarah suddenly realized something. She wasn't the only one who had lost a parent. Toby had lost both of his parents and only had Sarah. She had to take care of him and keep him safe. She had to top worrying about her and worry about Toby. Sarah wiped her eyes and got up from the couch. She walked out into the front hall and opened the front door. There were two police officers there.

"Hello. I'm Officer Layla," said one of the two and she held out her hand. "We're here about your parents' car crash. May we come in?"

Sarah moved to let the two into her parents' house. Well, actually it was her house now. The three of them walked into the living room. "Would you like something to drink?" Sarah asked them.

"Oh, no thank you. We can't stay very long. We need you to come with us. Since your legal guardians are, well… Ayways you need to be with an adult who can take care of you."

"That's okay. My garandmother called and said that she will be here first thing tomorrow morning." This was a lie but Sarah didn't want to go. Sarah's grandmother in fact hated her son for marying Sarah's mother. She had never had anything to do with Sarah. She definitely wouldn' want to become her legal gaurdian.

"Well, we can't leave you here alone. Do you have anyone that you can stay with until the morning?"

"Yes, our neighbor, Mrs. Minas baby-sits Toby all of the time I am sure that she would be more than happy to let us stay the night. Let me go call her really quick."

"Okay."

Sarah walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone. She dialed a number but didn't actually call anyone. She didn't want the officers to know that she had no intenion of leaving. She talked a bit like she was actually having a conversation with someone, and then hung up the phone. She walked back into the living room. The male officer was flippng through the channels on the television.

"Mrs. Minas said it was okay for me and Toby to stay over at her house for a few days. She has to go to go to the store for a few minutes but she will be right back."

The two officers stood and the woman shook Sarah's hand again. "We aren't supposed to leave you here alone but we have a ton of paper work to fill out at the station. You seem honest. Will you promise me to go your neighbor's after she gets back?"

"Yes ma'mm. I promise."

"Thank you. You have no idea how much time you are giving us."

"You're welcome. Can you show yourself to the door? I have to go pack for Toby and I."

"Sure. Nice meeting you, Sarah."

Once Sarah was sure that the officers had left, she checked on Toby. He was sound asleep. Sarah walked into the bathroom. She stripped down and got into the shower. When she was done she got out and saw her reflection in the mirror. She looked different. How she didn't know but she knew she did. She had changed a lot in the past hour and a half.

As Sarah climbed into bed she felt tired and weak all of he sudden. She felt like she had just run a marathon. Sarah thought of her Labyrinth friends just before she fell asleep. She thought of him too. "Jareth I need you," she whispered into her empty bedroom just as she feel asleep with a single tear sliding down her cheek.

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**Bum, bum, bum! Did you like it? I know that it is moving very fast but the entire story is only supposed to have about three or four chapters total.** **I am still accepting criticism. Again I am SO sorry for the wait after I promised that it would be up last Wednesday. (Well, at least I think that I said last Wednesday.) Please keep reviewing. Reviews make my low self-esteem go up quite a bit. J J J **


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:Here is the next chapter. Late as usual. I'm so sorry for the enormous wait. I won't kep you any longer so please read, enjoy, and review.**

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Sarah woke up to complete silence. She couldn't remember the last time that the house had been this quiet. Her heart suddenly dropped to her stomach when she realized that he hadn't come. Immediately she scolded herself mentally for thinking the he cared enough to be there. She had known all along that it had just been a game for him and her feelings meant nothing.

Suddenly, she heard giggling coming from Toby's room, which surprised her. Usually when he woke up he started crying. She slowly got out of bed and walked out in the hall. She stopped outside Toby's door and put her ear against it. She heard soft singing. The song and the voice sounded familiar.

"Don't just stand outside the door."

Sarah practically had a heart attack. She definitely knew that voice. She slowly cracked the door so she could see inside. She wanted her eyes to confirm what her ears had already heard. She couldn't believe it. '_Why is he even here?' _she thought to herself.

"You know very well why I'm here. You called and I had to answer." Jareth said matter-of-factly. Sarah walked into the room. She wondered vaguely what he had been singing. "I was singing the same song you heard when looking for Toby in my Labyrinth.

Sarah was tired of him reading her thoughts and responding like she had said them out loud. "Stop doing that." He started to say something but she cut him off, "You know what I mean. Stop responding to my thoughts and feelings like I've just announced them to you! My thoughts are private and I don't think you should just be shuffling through them." Jareth raised an eyebrow.

"I was going to say that I would have stopped if you had just asked." He smirked.

"Oh," Sarah could feel herself going red. Why did he have to make her feel this way? She didn't even know what this feeling was. It was strange to her and she didn't like it. It made her feel venerable. Suddenly she realized the silence that was building up. She tried to fill it by saying; "I should feed Toby."

"I already did," he told her.

"Thank you." She said uncomfortably.

They just stood there in an awkward silence for a few minutes. Actually, it was only awkward for Sarah. She could tell that Jareth was having fun, infuriating man that he was. Finally Sarah said quietly, "Do you want some breakfast?"

"No, thank you"

"Well, _I_ want breakfast, so _I'm_ going downstairs. If you're going to hang around then you have to come downstairs too." Jareth looked amused.

"Very well, but do you even know what time it is?" he smirked.

"No." replied Sarah, confused as to why he would ask such a question.

"Well, at this exact second it is eleven thirty-seven and forty-nine seconds."

"Oh, God. I slept too late! We have to leave. I have to find somewhere to go 'cause the police will be back or calling our neighbors and…"

He cut her off, "Do you need a place to stay?"

Sarah was speechless. She knew where this was going and she didn't know if she could. She also couldn't pass up the offer because she really did need somewhere to stay. She had to go. They just stood there, neither of them talking. Sarah couldn't say anything and he wasn't going to. Finally, he took pity on her. "Look, it won't be anything permanent, and you _do_ need a place to stay. Unless, of course, if you do want it to be permanent."

Sarah was speechless for the second time. "…_It won't be anything permanent…"_ She finally choked out something. "Nothing permanent? If you're sure, I think I could bear it." She paused but continued. "I thought you'd be pushy. Have conditions or something like that. Like it would have to be permanent."

"I'm not cruel, Sarah. A chance to have you staying in my castle for an un-set length of time is an honor." Sarah detected a hint of something in his voice when he said honor. He said it sarcastically, flirtatious even.

"Yes… No I don't know." Sarah couldn't take this right now. Her parents had died just the night before. There was too much to deal with. Finally, she came to a decision. She was going to stay until she figured out where else to go. "Alright. As long as we aren't imposing."

"Oh, no, not at all." He paused and then continued, "You don't really need to bring anything. We have all that you will ever need." Sarah caught the hint in his voice. Like _he_ was something she needed.

'_He has no idea how true that is. Well, actually, he probably does,' _Sarah thought. Out loud she asked, "How do we get there and when do we leave?"

"We leave as soon as you want, and you know how to get there…just say the words."

Sarah sighed. She really had no choice. Well, she could let child services get at Toby, but that was no choice. And who knows? Maybe it could work out. She took a deep breath, and said the words that would seal her fate, or perhaps make it;

"I wish the goblins would come and take us away right now."

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**Author's Note: I'm not sure if this is the last chapter or if I want to write another one. If enough people convince me to I will probably do one more chapter. So please review.**


	4. This is a NOTICE, NOT a story

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This is not another chapter, it is just a notice. (I am putting this here cause I don't know where else to put it.) I have decided that "The Real Jareth" is going to have one more chapter. It will be awhile before I get it posted because we are in the process of moving. After the last chapter I am going to make a sequel, because I decided that these few chapters weren't enough, and the story needed to have more in it. I have no idea when I'll have the sequel, but it won't be anytime soon. I hope you enjoyed the last three chapters and will enjoy the fourth one.


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